Issho
Issho (イッショウ, Isshō), also commonly known by his alias "Fujitora" (藤虎, Fujitora; literally meaning "Wisteria Tiger"), is a fictional character and deuteragonist from the One Piece series. He is a blind Mavy admiral. He was conscripted into the Navy through a World Military Draft during the two-year timeskip along with fellow newcomer Ryokugyu, both filling the two vacancies in the admiral positions caused by Kuzan leaving the Navy and Sakazuki becoming fleet admiral. Issho was first mentioned by Sakazuki when the latter was first discussing plans to deal with Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law. His following mission and actions on Dressrosa made him the first admiral to make an appearance after the timeskip and the secondary antagonist of the Dressrosa Arc. Much like his predecessor, Kuzan, Issho is strongly against the Navy's dogma of "Absolute Justice" and extremely vocal in his opposition of it. His disgust with the corruption and evil in the world is such that he has intentionally blinded himself many years ago so as to avoid ever seeing it again. He particularly holds strong disdain for the Seven Warlord system, is has been one of his longing, main goals to disestablish or abolish it, and after learning about the horrific atrocities comitted by Don Quixote Doflamingo of the Seven Warlords of the Sea in Dressrosa, Issho formally apologized to King Riku and his citizens on behalf of the Navy, thus infuriating Sakazuki and risking his admiral position. "In this world... There are many horrible things that you do not want to see." :—Issho's comment on his blindness. Appearance & Biography :Voice Actor: Not Known (English), Ikuya Sawaki (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish) Biography Navy HQ Admiral. The user of a Devil Fruit that can control gravity. Joined the Navy in the "global conscription" after the Battle of Navyford and rose to the rank of Admiral. He went to Dressrosa under orders from Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, and there he encountered Luffy and the other Straw Hat Pirates. Appearance Issho is a blind man with only the whites of his eyes showing, though he usually keeps both eyes closed. He has an X-shaped scar centered on the left side of his forehead that stretches over both eyes, which was actually self-inflicted due to his decision to blind himself. He has short black hair, a mustache, and a beard. He seems to be very tall, a trait shared with other admirals. Like other admirals, Issho sports the standard navy coat with his personal clothes underneath, wearing the coat on his shoulders like a cape with his arms not in the sleeves. His sleeves cuffs are purple. While previous admirals and other high-ranked naval officers wear the conventional suit and tie underneath their navy coats, Issho opts for a light-purple yukata held up with a dark purple belt, all underneath a purple cloak, matching the color in his alias. Issho wields a shikomizue (a Japanese swordstick) that doubles as a cane for his blindness, and also wears geta sandals. He has white bandages wrapped around both of his forearms, with handguards on both hands. * Hair Color: Black * Skin Color: Not Known * Eye Color: White * Age: Not Known * Birthday: August 10th * Height: Not Known * Weight: Not Known Attributes: Gallery Background Personality Issho appears to be a reasonable man that is very trusting of people, as seen when he actually believed that he kept losing at roulette purely by chance. The moment he was told that he was being cheated and that the swindlers tried to kill Luffy for revealing their trickery, he retaliated mercilessly and stated that being blind spared him from seeing the corruption in the world. In fact it was Issho himself that cut his own eyes to avoid seeing such evil. He also takes responsibility for the collateral damage he inflicts, as shown when he compensated the shop owner for the damages he caused when creating a massive crater to attack the swindlers. He appears to follow his own ideals instead of adhering to the Navy's doctrine of Absolute Justice. However, he still follows the law, as he chose to spare Caesar Clown simply because he was a subordinate working under Don Quixote Doflamingo, although he did understand that Doflamingo could be up to something and desired to investigate further into the problem if it were not for the law and lack of solid evidence. He is rather modest, as he barely commented on the remarks Doflamingo and Law made on his formidable reputation and display of power. Nevertheless, Issho has a sense of pride that prevents him from going back on his decisions, refusing to apologize to Sakazuki after their heated argument for letting Luffy and Law escape. During the first time he was seen in battle, Issho was shown to be willing to use excessive force as he summoned down a meteor to attack both Law and Doflamingo. Doflamingo even commented that he does not hold back. Issho is also an extremely compassionate man, gentle and soft-spoken towards his subordinates and also despite being one of the highest ranking naval officers, Issho exhibits immense concern for innocent civilians, prioritizing their safety over his duty to arrest and punish criminals, unlike his superior Sakazuki and most other high-ranking naval officers, such as Vice-Admirals who are ruthless to the point of sacrificing their own subordinates for the sake of killing criminals. Despite his responsible personality, he seems to enjoy gambling and is not entirely serious with his duties, as he was playing roulette even when he was supposed to be apprehending Luffy and Law. Gambling seems to be a big theme in his personality, as he often makes gambling references and analogies as part of his conversations. On top of this, he makes many very big gambles during combat, even sometimes gambling the safety of others. When he brought a meteor down on Green Bit, he was not completely sure that Trafalgar Law and Doflamingo were powerful enough to prevent the island from being obliterated. He launched both his battleship and a meteor at the Straw Hats, not accounting for Law and his abilities. He brought down yet another meteor on Dressrosa itself while the bird cage was active, not understanding that the cage would actually split the meteor into pieces, thus widening the impact of the blast and endangering more people. Another trait Issho displayed is his ability to remain calm. Even when one of his own meteorites was sent flying back at his ship, he was calmly slurping a bowl of soba noodles acting as if nothing was happening while his whole crew was in panic and even commenting on his choice of timing for a meal. Though Issho is normally calm and serious, he has also displayed a sense of humor unlike most admirals, and even exaggerated comedic expressions, contrary to the realistic expressions and designs the admirals share. When Luffy took him on in a one-on-one fight, Issho was amused by the fact Luffy started calling out his own attacks in battle, not to patronize him because of his handicap, but because Luffy had taken a liking to Issho and wanted an earnestly fair fight with the admiral. After realizing this, he cracked up and started laughing, which Luffy, however, found annoying. At one point in his life, Issho grew so disgusted with seeing all the evil in the world that he decided to take his own eyes. However, he later regrets this decision as he was unable to see the face of the man whom so many are willing to risk their lives to protect. He also gets very offended when enemies patronize him because of his blindness and hold back against him, or show pity towards him. Issho is also a man of his word and follows his own rules, and sometimes makes his decisions based on a roll of a dice that he always carries wherever he goes. For example, he used a dice to determine whether or not to pursue Luffy and his crew following the downfall of Doflamingo. Issho is very of fond of eating soba noodles, as he is seen frequently eating them from time to time. Relationships Friends/Allies * Navy ** Smoker * King Riku Family Neutral * World Government * Sakazuki * Straw Hat Pirates ** Monkey D. Luffy ** Nico Robin * Seven Warlords of the Sea ** Trafalgar Law * Revolutionary Army ** Sabo Rivals Enemies * Don Quixote Doflamingo Abilities and Powers As an admiral, Issho has command over the many thousands of soldiers ranked lower than him, his status being second highest within the entire Marine organization, just below Fleet Admiral Sakazuki. He also has the power to initiate a Buster Call on any island he deems to be a threat, as well as grant lower ranking World Government agents such a privilege. As an admiral, he has the authority to revoke a Warlord's title. In terms of combat strength, Issho is considered to be one of the strongest fighters within the entire World Government structure, as an admiral is considered the "Greatest Military Power". Issho is at least strong enough to have Sakazuki's confidence in dealing with both Monkey D. Luffy, a notorious pirate, and Trafalgar Law, a rogue Warlord. Alongside Sengoku and Tsuru, he was able to defeat Jack, a right-hand man of the Emperor Kaido with a bounty of 1,000,000,000 berries. Despite being blind, Issho has proven to be able to handle himself extremely well in battle, as he was still able to perfectly time his defense against the meteor he summoned and deflected it without a problem. According to Doflamingo, Issho and Ryokugyu are two very formidable and venerable beasts within the Navy. His strength was also admired by Monkey D. Luffy, when the latter watched his fight against Doflamingo's thugs. When Doflamingo tried to attack him, he showed absolutely no concern and easily blocked his attack. A testament to his fighting skills was that he was able to fight against Sabo, the chief of staff of the Revolutionary Army to a standstill and emerge without a scratch on him. This is a noteworthy feat given his opponent recently acquired a Logia class fruit before their fight, and it is also notable since Sabo had defeated Jesus Burgess without sustaining any injury after nearly killing one of the Emperor's highest ranking subordinates with ease. He appears to have excellent hearing, as he was able to hear lightning from Nami's Weather Forcer while she was far away from his position, something that Doflamingo wasn't able to detect. He also stated that he is able to sense the movement of clouds. In the anime, Issho is also shown to be very good at gambling, having won many games in roulette before the owners started to cheat him out of his money. In roulette, he seems to be relying on his sharp hearing and sense of gravity to predict the outcome. The only reason he was losing was because he was being cheated by thugs who were taking advantage of his blindness. Powers Abilities Physical Abilities Issho is incredibly resilient, having guarded from a Haki-imbued Gear Third Punch without the use of his own Haki while only gaining a minor bruise. He also has immense strength, as he was able to defend against extremely powerful attacks from Zolo and Luffy without visible effort. Issho has great reflexes and combined with his skill in Observation Haki, Issho could swiftly defend against an unexpected kick from Doflamingo without any effort. In the anime, he was able to catch and stop Doflamingo's Parasite string before it could take control of him while casually sitting down, while most people easily fall victim to the same attack. Devil Fruit When exacting retribution on Doflamingo's thugs that were cheating him because of his blindness, Issho used an unknown Devil Fruit power. It grants him the ability to manipulate gravity around a chosen location at will by sending gravitational forces. He first used this power to create a gravitational force of such intensity that it caused the swindlers to be pressed heavily against the floor, which caved in to create a gigantic hole as a result. Later, he used immense amounts of gravity to accomplish other feats, such as summoning a meteor to fall from the sky. After the battle against Law with Doflamingo, he used his power to increase gravity on one point to pin Law to the ground and immobilize him. However, it seems that his gravity powers can be disrupted by attacking Issho himself. This is shown outside the Coliseum when Issho and Doflamingo confronted an injured Law, Kin'emon and Zolo used a projectile slash to interrupt Issho, enabling Zolo to escape from Issho's gravitational pin. Issho can also reverse gravity to create a circular barrier around him which repels attacks. As a testament of his power, he stated that the meteor he brought down was merely to test his strength. This was proven further much later, when he was shown capable of levitating all of the rubble on the entire island of Dressrosa. He usually unsheathes his sword in order to create the gravitational forces. He is also able to use his powers to levitate and move materials such as a battleship or a rock, similar to Shiki's Float-Float Fruit, and use the rock as a platform to stand on to levitate; though unlike Shiki's power, Issho's is not hindered by the necessity of having to touch the target beforehand, and he can affect both living and inanimate objects; in exchange, Issho must maintain his focus for his powers to remain active. Attacks The named techniques that are used by Issho that involve the Devil Fruit are as follows: * Gravito (グラビとう, Gurabitō; literally meaning "Gravity Blade"): Issho's signature technique. Issho can manipulate gravitational forces by channeling his Devil Fruit ability through his sword. He can send the gravitational forces by swinging or just simply moving his sword. The direction of the gravitational forces can be upwards, downwards, or sideways. He has been shown to only use one at a time so far. It was first used against the thugs of the Don Quixote Pirates by manipulating gravitational forces downwards. However, this technique was not named until his fight against Sabo. The kanji for "gravity" is originally read as "juuryoku", and this is the only attack so far of Issho's to have an alternate reading. ** Feared Tiger (猛虎, Mōko; literally meaning "Fierce Tiger"): Issho generates immense levels of gravitational forces around him that push out horizontally, which knock away anything including his enemies, buildings, trees, and whatever else that is unfortunate enough to be in the attack radius. The force is so strong that it easily destroys the ground and buildings, reducing them to rubble. While using this technique, the gravitational force generates black lightning around Issho. It was first used against Sabo in Dressrosa. The name of this technique is a reference to Issho's epithet, Fujitora, which means "wisteria tiger". * Trip to Hell (地獄旅, Jigoku Tabi; literally meaning "Hell Journey"): Issho slices through a large group of enemies over a wide area, then as he sheathes his sword it causes a powerful downward force of gravity sending them down into a massive crater. It was first demonstrated against a group of thugs. Although it was not named in the manga or anime, it was in One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3. In the manga, Issho never sliced the enemies with his sword before causing the ground to cave in, while in the anime and Pirate Warriors 3, he does. * Festival of Furious Flames (あばれ火祭り, Abare Himatsuri; literally meaning "Raving Fire Festival"): Issho stands on a piece of rock and levitates it into the air and flies across the battlefield, raining a storm of meteorites in his wake. Gallery Haki :Main article: Haki It was stated that all Marines ranked vice admiral or higher possess Haki. Issho can utilize and has shown mastery over two types of Haki. Observation Haki Issho is also masterful in Observation Haki, which he used to compensate for his blindness in battle. His incredible skill in Observation Haki gives him a strong sense of danger. He can accurately predict fast attacks from enemies such as an unexpected kick from Doflamingo. In the anime, he could sense Doflamingo's fast Parasite thread and even grabbed it before it took control of him. He also correctly sense an enranged Pica preparing to attack before his subordinate pointed out to him. In his fight with Sabo, he could keep track of Sabo's extraordinary agility which is enhanced by the fire based powers of the Flare-Flare Fruit, but the most prominent example is his capability to see his surroundings in a form of an aura which is not impeded by his blindness. Similar to Otohime, Issho can also read and hear the true thoughts and emotions of other people as he was made aware that the Dressrosa citizens had no ill will towards Luffy while they were "chasing" him at the Dressrosa coast. Armament Haki Issho could clash head on physically with Sabo, a Logia-class Devil Fruit user and also a proficient Armament Haki user, demonstrating an extremely high level of skill in Armament Haki. He could focus strong concentration of into his sword, turning it obsidian black and making it strong enough to defend against the razor sharp threads of the Birdcage, which can slice cannonballs and buildings with great ease. Swordmanship Issho wields his sword in a reverse-grip style, with the blade pointing in the direction opposite of his thumb. Despite his blindness, Issho has shown to be an exceptionally powerful and skillful swordsman able to skillfully block powerful attacks as he was able to parry Zolo's powerful flying slash that was strong enough to bypass the incredibly heavy gravitational force generated from Issho's Devil Fruit abilities and blast Issho himself away a considerable distance, as well as defend against Luffy's Elephant Gun which is strong to defeat a giant Kraken. In a hostile conversation with Doflamingo, Issho easily defended himself from an unexpected kick from the Warlord, showing incredible power and lighting fast dexterity in his swordsmanship. His swordsmanship combined with his Devil Fruit powers allow him to fight equally with Sabo, an immensely powerful fighter wielding a staff enhanced by flames generated from the Flare-Flare Fruit without any injuries at all, a tremendous feat as Vice-Admiral Bastille, a giant and a highly skilled swordsman wielding the Same-kiri Bocho, and G. Zass Burgess, who is one of the most powerful members of the Blackbeard Pirates, were completely defeated by Sabo. Strength level Fighting Style Miscellaneous Skills Weaknesses Equipment Gadgets Weapons While other admirals have been shown to mostly rely on their Devil Fruit abilities in battle, Issho wields a shikomizue (a cane sword) in tandem with his Devil Fruit ability. The connection between these two factors has yet to be explained, though it seems he channels his power through the sword, as shown when he pointed the blade at Trafalgar Law to create a gravitation field to pin down the young pirate and cause a rock to crumble. Due to his blindness, Issho uses his sword as a cane outside of battle to check his surroundings as he walks. Despite being blind, not being able to see does not seem to impede him in battle. Gallery Transportation Gallery History Past Not much is known about his past, but at some point in his life, Issho intentionally blinded himself when he became disgusted with all the evil and corruption he had seen in the world. Sometime during the two years when the Straw Hat Pirates were separated, he was promoted to the rank of admiral in the World Military Draft. He joined the Navy because he wanted many things to come to fruition, one of which is to end the Seven Warlord system. At some point, he spoke to Smoker, who revealed to him what had happened at Alabasta. He also listened to Smoker's frustration over how the World Government covered up the incident. Synopsis Dressrosa Arc Battles Canon * Issho vs. Doflamingo's thugs * Issho and Don Quixote Doflamingo vs. Trafalgar Law * Issho vs. Roronoa Zoro * Issho vs. Sabo * Issho vs. Monkey D. Luffy (Dressrosa Eastern Port) * Doflamingo's Navy escort vs. Jack (not shown) Non-Canon * Issho vs. Monkey D. Luffy (Birdcage) Events Canon Non-Canon Anime and Manga Differences Translation and Dub Issues See also External links * Shintaro Katsu - Wikipedia article on the actor Fujitora is based on. * Issho One Piece Encyclopedia Notes & Trivia * His appearance is based on the late actor Shintaro Katsu, more specifically his role as Zatoichi, the blind swordsman. The similarities are as follows: ** They carry a shikomizue (cane-sword) for both walking and battle. ** Both have a love for gambling (although Zatoichi is able to recognize whether or not he is being taken advantage of). ** They wield their swords in identical styles, and both utilize iaijutsu (quick draw techniques). ** Both seem to put the best interests of the people first. ** Both are quite humble. ** Both are also interested in going on trips. In the movies, Zatoichi is depicted as a wanderer and Issho has decided that he would be going on a trip after Sakazuki barred him from entering any Marine base. ** Many of his named techniques originate from his movies. Jigoku Tabi originates from Zatoichi and the Chess Expert, and Abare Himatsuri is derived from Zatoichi at the Fire Festival. * Issho and Ryokugyu's animal aliases (Tiger and Bull, respectively) are the representation of the northeastern quarter where the ogre that Momotarō must kill lives. * In an SBS, a reader asked why Fujitora was not just named "Purple Tiger" (紫虎, Murasakitora), with a simple color like the other admirals. however, Oda responded that he did not like the feel or pronunciation of Murasaki''tora or ''Shi''tora (both meaning purple), and decided on Fujitora because it sounded cooler. * In the 5th fan poll, Issho ranked 36th, making him the most popular (current) admiral of the Marines following after his predecessor Kuzan. * In the anime, a common animation error is for the scars over one or both of Issho's eyelids to be drawn too long or too short from time to time. * In the video game ''One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, Issho is one of the few characters that Boa Hancock cannot turn into stone with her Devil Fruit abilities (both when controlled by the player or encountered as an enemy), which is a reference to his blindness and not knowing what she looks like. However, this immunity has yet to be confirmed or denied in the source material, as Issho and Hancock have not met or interacted in the series thus far. * Issho shares some similarities with G-5 Vice Admiral Smoker. ** Both of them are Naval officers. ** Both hated the Seven Warlords of the Sea as they wanted to abolish the system. ** Both of them arrested a Warlord after they were defeated by Luffy (Crocodile for Smoker and Doflamingo for Issho). ** They have also received assistance from Luffy at some point. Smoker was saved from drowning after Luffy ordered Zolo to rescue him, and Issho was informed by Luffy about the thugs deceiving him. Category:Navy Category:One Piece Universe Characters